Country: India

Organization: Kondai Lip Heritage Backwater Resort, Ezhupunna

Year the initiative began: 2005

Project Website: Website

Positioning in the Mosaic of solutions:

• Main barrier addressed: Lack of quality assurance
• Main insight addressed: Incorporate sustainable practices

What is the goal of your innovation?
Preserve nature and use tourism as a tool for the advancement of the local community in their economic empowerment and development.

How does your approach support or embody geotourism?
What the creator has positioned in the area is not to be disturbed. The Kondai Lip is situated at the scenic locale of Kondai Island in the Alappuzha District in Kerala. The choice of location was mainly due to the fact that this is our ancestral property and had an element of history and nostalgia surrounding it, that we felt we could share with the rest of the world. Being a joint family venture – our primary aim was to maximize all resources around us, which meant involving family members in operation as well as engaging the village community in terms of manpower and natural resources. In all the activities the local community is the prime beneficiary. This is ensuring the sustenance and conservation of the natural and cultural heritage and environment, and at the same time ensuring that direct economic benefits flow to the local community. By way of maximizing local resources we serve tender coconut water instead of bottled soft drinks, fish and prawns from our own ponds, fresh vegetables from own farm / village are used in the kitchen. We use solar heaters for hot water and rain water is harvested for daily use

Describe your approach in detial. How is it innovative?
We have 15 acres in Kondai Island where we started construction three years back with out damaging any thing inside the property. Knowing that heritage homes would merge with the landscape and are best suited for the climatic conditions of Kerala, we purchased old structures from various parts of Kerala - some more than 100 years old and in bad state of disrepair, employed local carpenters and artisans to dismantle them piece by piece and relocate them in our property. We completed the work with the help of 30 – 40 local carpenters and artisans from the community. Apart from employing professionals from the hospitality industry to ensure quality of the service, we have employed a large number of locals - Our boatmen who conduct the guests through the backwaters, the house-keeping and reception staff, cooks, waiters, security staff – are all locals living in the area. Three years back they did not have a proper job or fixed income – now they are on our payroll and have better living standards. Most of them were not educated and could only converse in their mother tongue. Now they have been empowered and can adequately communicate with the guests.

What types of partnerships or professional developement would be most beneficial in spearding your innovation?
Training of the local community in enhancing their skills especially with regards to tourism related services and activities to meet the satisfaction level of the travelers.

In one sentence describe what kind of impact, change, or reform your approach is intended to achieve.
Preserve nature for posterity simultaneously ensuring the economic and social empowerment of the local community

Describe the degree of success of your approach to date. Clearly define how you measure quantitative and qualitative impact in terms of how your approach contributes to the sustainability or enhancement of local culture, environment, heritage, or aesthetics? How does your approach minimize negative impacts?
Our resort is spread over 15 acres where we have built only nine rooms. More rooms will mean more construction, increased income, but less open areas for the guests. We do not wish to expand to such an extent lest it adversely affects the delicate balance with the environment. We have restricted the number of rooms to sustain the property as before. We want our guests and future generations to commune and be one with nature. We have employed mostly locals for work at the resort - Our boatmen who conduct the guests through the backwaters, the house-keeping and reception staff, cooks, waiters, security staff – are all living with two Kms radius of the resort

How does your program promote traveler enthusiasm, satisfaction, and engagement with the locale?
The activities at the resort have been tailor made to ensure maximum visitor satisfaction. Before we initiated our activities we undertook detailed visitor surveys to understand tourist requirements. Based on their feedback we have developed activities that ensure the visitors get to take back far more in terms of experience and learning

In what ways are local residents actively involved in your innovation, including participation and community input? How has the community responded to or benefited from your approach?
We have employed mostly locals for work at the resort - Our boatmen who conduct the guests through the backwaters, the house-keeping and reception staff, cooks, waiters, security staff all live within walking distance to the resort. They earn their livelihood from the activities at the resort.

Describe how your innovation helps travelers and local residents better understand the value of the area's cultural and natural heritage, and educates them on local environmental issues. How do you motivate them to act responsibly in their future travel decisions?
The village tours with local guides helps the guests interact with the locals and learn more about life in the backwaters. The travelers are exposed to rural life in the backwaters of Kerala as they walk around the village to indigenous boat building units, the cottage industries making coir, see toddy tapping (a natural fermented drink extracted from coconut tree) and other activities. Country boat rides through the narrow canals and rivers is a favorite activity with the guests.

Is your initiative financially and organizationally sustainable? If not, what is required to make it so? What is the potential demand for your innovation?
Yes, we are both financially and organizationally sustainable.

How is your initiative currently financed? If available, provide information on your finances and organization that could help others. Please list: Annual budget, annual revenue generated, size of part-time, full-time and volunteer staff.
From own sources

What is your plan to expand your approach? Please indicate where/how you would like to grow or enhance your innovation, or have others do so.
Presently the focus is on providing excellent service in a sustainable manner. We do not have any major expansion plans that may upset the environmental balance

What are the main barriers you encounter in managing, implementing, or replicating your innovation? What barriers keep your program from having greater impact?
None

What is the origin of your innovation? Tell your story.
A purely business interest to start with – to put our ancestral property into better use by constructing a resort. A research on other properties in similar locations helped formulate the plan for a sustainable venture respecting nature and the environment and empowering the local community.

Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers' marketing material.
A family venture where all members are actively involved with the project along with the local community

Please write an overview of your project. This text will appear when people scroll over the icon for your entry on the Google map located on teh competition homepage.
Kondai Lip is a Heritage Backwater Resort – set in the backwaters of Kerala 16 Kms from Cochin where nature reigns supreme

Contact Information
Mr. Sunny Stanley
Owner
Kondai Lip Heritage Backwater Resort, Ezhupunna
Karumanchery Buildings, Ezhupunna South P O Alappuzha - 688 550, Kerala
kondai@kondailip.com